After sitting through four hours of North Broward Hospital District meetings on Wednesday, my skepticism about the rushed Sept. 10 decision authorizing the privatization of the Broward Health system hasn't changed.

If anything, I'm more distrustful than ever.

For now, be grateful that the taxpayer-assisted hospital network that covers residents north of Griffin Road is still open to public scrutiny.

After all, we learned through public documents yesterday that Broward Health's former internal auditing director got a $560,000 settlement last year after he filed a whistleblower lawsuit.

The district admitted no wrongdoing, but David Richstone dropped the case after the district paid him $100,000 in salary and $408,000 in damages, partly for "emotional distress."

And we learned that the district is paying attorney Jim Kennedy of Tampa $475-an-hour for his expertise on transitioning to a non-profit structure, something he's done elsewhere in the state.

These kind of nuggets wouldn't be disseminated if Broward Health is run by a non-profit corporation that might be allowed to be exempt from Florida's broad open government laws.

There might be less transparency when it came to the daily nitty-gritty, but the North Broward Hospital District (with its seven governor-appointed commissioners) would still exist to collect and oversee property taxes for indigent care (currently $170 million).

I see the future, and it's a rubber-stamp public board that wouldn't pry too hard or too often into the new corporation's affairs.

It's hard to blame Broward Health for maybe wanting to go underground. After all, the district

has had enough scandals and embarrassing headlines to last a lifetime.

So changing stripes and converting from a public to quasi-private board is understandable.

Wrong, but understandable.

As Pam Kane, a Fort Lauderdale resident whose father served as chief financial officer of the South Broward Hospital District put it: "I'm really concerned the board hasn't been up front with the public. There's a lot of mistrust."

As Michael Lockwood, a Broward Health heart patient, put it: "You need to slow down and think this thing through."

Or as John De Groot, a retired journalist who showed up Wednesday dressed as "Dr. Bozo the Healthcare Clown" (complete with rubber nose, rainbow wig and a surgeon's jacket with a doctored logo that said 'Broward Wealth') put it sarcastically: "It's not fair. You should be able to meet privately...I understand the problems of doing things in the sunshine: people ask questions, and they want answers."

As for my percolating distrust, let's start with a little thing.

When I asked Broward Health CEO Frank Nask earlier this month about why such a huge issue was taken up at a hastily-arranged special meeting (at 10 a.m. on a Friday morning, the second day of Rosh Hashana) instead of the district's regular monthly meeting (on Wednesday), Nask cited time considerations.

Because the presentation and discussion about the switch would be lengthy, about 2 1/2 hours, Nask said he didn't want to do it on the same night as the regular meeting and final tax/budget hearing (Wednesday).

Well, it turns out that they spent two hours on the issue on Wednesday after all, the first of four public workshops after a flare-up over the hasty way it was handled.

A bigger thing:

Nask and others keep saying the district needs new flexibility in light of federal healthcare reform, with the district currently shackled from entering joint ventures and other business opportunities.

Or maybe not. I dug up the latest version of the district's charter (amended in 2006 by the state legislature), and it seems there's wide latitude.

The charter authorizes the board of commissioners "to participate in, and to provide debt or equity financing for, a corporation in which the district is a shareholder or a joint venture in which the district is a joint venturer, so long as any such corporation or joint venture provides health care services or engages in activities related thereto that benefit the people of the district, as well as others."

(UPDATE: Broward Health spokeswoman Sara Howley said the charter language is overridden by the Florida Constitution, which contains a provision barring that type of arrangement. From Article VII, Section 10: "Pledging credit.--Neither the state nor any county, school district, municipality, special district, or agency of any of them, shall become a joint owner with, or stockholder of, or give, lend or use its taxing power or credit to aid any corporation, association, partnership or person.")

I also find it hard to believe the talk from commissioners and Nask that the non-profit switch isn't a done deal.

Nask should try re-reading the resolution that passed, because it most certainly determined a course that is now official board policy.

The resolution called for "authorizing and directing the President/CEO to initiate and facilitate the process," and tasked Nask and General Counsel Sam Goren "to take any and all action necessary to effectuate the intent of this Resolution."

Remarkably, the resolution found the switch to a still-unformed corporation with no named directors to be "in the best interests of the citizens, residents and healthcare recipients of the District."

All without any due diligence, feasibility study or hard numbers.

The commission had another chance to rescind the earlier vote at its regular meeting on Wednesday, but didn't. Instead, commissioners voted to let Nask bring in a major accounting/consulting firm to oversee "the review process."

As I've written before, the proper course is scrapping the first resolution and studying all future options to determine what's in the best interest of taxpayers, patients and employees.

The options should include the keeping status quo, forming a new non-profit, selling the system outright and using the proceeds to fund indigent care and merging with the South Broward Hospital District.

After all the pros and cons are examined, the board should come back in six months and make a decision.

It's what the Broward County Commission did when it came to the thorny issue of airport expansion. The commissioners examined four options (doing nothing, building a new north parallel runway, building a new short south runway and building a new long south runway) and settled on the new long south runway.

Some people thought the final decision was a preconceived result, but at least they took the time and effort to study all the options.

Comments

I commend Commissioner Clarence McKee as the only one of 7 to stand up and SAY NO TO THIS CHANGE!!! Why haven't we heard from other leected officials and minority officials since indigent care would be sacrificed? Congrats, to Senator Rich, the only elected official so far to speak out!!!

Sounds to me the poor are going to get screwed again a long with the taxpayer ,remember the health care companies lobbied the senators and then blamed them for passing the health care bill, what a scam!!!!!!

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About the author

MICHAEL MAYO has been the Sun-Sentinel's Broward news columnist since 2002. He is not a failed sports writer, as some detractors contend, just a lapsed one. He came to South Florida to cover sports in 1989. He now takes aim at everything under the sun. He was born in Brooklyn, went to college in Boston and has also lived in London and Spartanburg, S.C. His hobbies include losing weight (unsuccessfully) and losing golf balls (very successfully).